He still had a decent amount of years ahead of him. You easily could of relinquished him to a shelter and he would of gone to another home.
I think it was a bit cruel to put a dog to sleep just because he barked at your child as they were both reaching for the same piece of food.
There were 2 better decisions you could of made:
1: discipline the dog and teach him his place is a BELOW the children.
2: relinquish him at a shelter.

I wholeheartedly disagree that relinquishing an 8-year-old Rottweiler to a shelter is kinder than euthanizing him. It's insane. He would be disoriented and fearful away from us, his pack. The shelter isn't exactly running out of Rottweilers available for adoption or overflowing with money for food. Most importantly, we would have worried about him.

I think you need to pause and check yourself to see if you really feel like it's proper for you to be judging a hard decision like that. Dogs have to be put to sleep. It's hard. Responsible owners do it. You need to be very careful telling someone they did it wrong. It doesn't bother me, mind you. I kind of am enjoying the exchange of ideas. But other people are sensitive to that.

However, more to the poster's point, Bogey, despite his formal obedience training, years of living in the house with our family of 5, and just generally being a good old guy, had become grumpy and acted in a way that I deemed threatening to a 4-year-old. I would not expect my child to learn to behave better or deserve to get scratched, bitten, or whatever. It's my place to protect the child, even at the expense of the dog, and that's what we did. We often wish we had him now that our kids are grown; we could have kept him longer.

I do understand this as well.. If you personally felt he was too much, putting him to sleep would have been way better than leaving him in a shelter.. Most old dogs never get adopted and just wait out however long they have until they are put to sleep anyways. :/ no one really wants any dog over 6-7 years. It's sad but it's true.. No one wants to get attached to a dog that might only live another year. There are just far too many young active adoptable dogs that will always get picked first.

I wholeheartedly disagree that relinquishing an 8-year-old Rottweiler to a shelter is kinder than euthanizing him. It's insane. He would be disoriented and fearful away from us, his pack. The shelter isn't exactly running out of Rottweilers available for adoption or overflowing with money for food. Most importantly, we would have worried about him.

I think you need to pause and check yourself to see if you really feel like it's proper for you to be judging a hard decision like that. Dogs have to be put to sleep. It's hard. Responsible owners do it. You need to be very careful telling someone they did it wrong. It doesn't bother me, mind you. I kind of am enjoying the exchange of ideas. But other people are sensitive to that.

However, more to the poster's point, Bogey, despite his formal obedience training, years of living in the house with our family of 5, and just generally being a good old guy, had become grumpy and acted in a way that I deemed threatening to a 4-year-old. I would not expect my child to learn to behave better or deserve to get scratched, bitten, or whatever. It's my place to protect the child, even at the expense of the dog, and that's what we did. We often wish we had him now that our kids are grown; we could have kept him longer.

Trust me, he wouldn't spend long at a shelter and would of been adopted in a heart beat. Or craigslist posting with the intent of adding a "rehoming fee" would of worked.
How would you feel if someone ended your life because you "said something mean to a child"?

Alright, it was a little hard to put together, but did I just read that right? You put down your dog.. You KILLED your dog, because he barked at your son. You didn't try to correct the action. You didn't consider giving the dog a new home... you chose to kill the dog?

My pit, Sadie, is a part of my family. She's been by my side day and night since I got her. She's taught my daughter how to care for an animal. She wanted to buy the dog treats and toys, so she took her birthday money and put it in her own bank account (in my name, of course) and my daughter... my 10 year old daughter puts money in that account every week. She's learned so much, and being part of the training process has taught her even more.

I have a kid, and I love her very much, but a bark wouldn't be enough to get rid of (let alone kill) a dog. It would take a little more then that. Was there something you left out? Like did the dog bark at visitors, or snap at people and you had heard the bark before and knew it was bad news? Was there more then a bark to make you think the dog would bite?

Alright, it was a little hard to put together, but did I just read that right? You put down your dog.. You KILLED your dog, because he barked at your son. You didn't try to correct the action. You didn't consider giving the dog a new home... you chose to kill the dog?

My pit, Sadie, is a part of my family. She's been by my side day and night since I got her. She's taught my daughter how to care for an animal. She wanted to buy the dog treats and toys, so she took her birthday money and put it in her own bank account (in my name, of course) and my daughter... my 10 year old daughter puts money in that account every week. She's learned so much, and being part of the training process has taught her even more.

I have a kid, and I love her very much, but a bark wouldn't be enough to get rid of (let alone kill) a dog. It would take a little more then that. Was there something you left out? Like did the dog bark at visitors, or snap at people and you had heard the bark before and knew it was bad news? Was there more then a bark to make you think the dog would bite?

And why did you have to "Put down" the other dog? Same reason?

...

I totally agree with you.
Grumpy old dog or not. He deserved a second chance.

I'll stop there. I can't stand speaking about it anymore, it's upsetting me too much. I'm not a dog person, but I've had a few, and they're not pets to most people, they're family. And I would never consider killing grandma over putting her in a home when she became too much for me.

And all of this is beside the point. What does any of this have to do with normal people and pitbulls being banned and sensationalized.

My opinion on that... Well, what I do with adopting out any animals I come across (I am getting a rescue guinea who was left outside 18 hours ago, in CEDAR bedding, little food, no water, and FILTH of a glorified litterbox), is see the people, their kids, their house. I like to KNOW what the animal will have as a home. Jo-Jo, my guinea's surprise baby, is going to his new home tomorrow, and that is what I am doing. That way, it is less worry (one person was so happy I own guineas, so she knew the guinea would have good care! and I supplied pictures and diet, and bedding info).